I'm Sioux Roslawski and this is my blog about writing, dogs, grown-up children, menopause, the joy of a marvelous book, classroom teaching in general, and specifically, the teaching of writing. You can email me at sroslawski(at)yahoo(dot)com.

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Monday, June 3, 2013

Now There is Light!

Our part of St. Louis lost power on Friday evening, a little before nine. Tonight (Monday), a few minutes after nine, we regained power. Many people had a great deal of property damage; thankfully, I don't think a life was lost because of these tornadoes that dropped in for a visit. I figure, houses and cars can be replaced; loved ones can't.

On Thursday I went to see Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns and now his most recent novel, And the Mountains Echoed. His second book, Suns, is one of my all-time favorite books.

This is Khaled Hosseini signing his book.

This is the cover of his newest novel. Before the story begins, Hosseini includes a 13th century
quote from Jelaluddin Rumi. It could have been written yesterday. It is, "Out beyond ideas of
wrongdoing and rightdoing,there is a field. I'll meet you there." Brilliant!

He gave the audience some helpful hints. If you want to be a three-time best-selling author like he is, do this:

become a political refugee

come to a country where you don't know anyone

learn a foreign language

get into a profession (like medicine) that takes 10 years of school (Hosseini is a doctor and has lived in the U.S. since 1980) and then work on writing a book

When asked what his writing day was like, he offered this golden nugget:"I take my kids to school, I sit at my computer and hope something happens." (That's what all writers do...we hope something magical happens...) The woman who interviewed him asked a few silly questions. One of them was, "Why don't your stories have happy endings?" He responded as kindly as he could. (This ain't a Disney movie. These are stories about real life.) I finished the book this morning. (I read it by flashlight for the past couple of nights.) It did not disappoint...

Love that Rumi quote -- a mantra for those of us who are opposed to judgmentalism. (And now the computer is judging me -- with a red underscore -- for typing that word... I think I'll head to the field!!!)

This Is Why We Can't Spare Live Things
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*Once upon a midnight dreary, in my lair, caffeined and feary*
*Hoping not to hear the noises that I'd heard so many times before,*
*While I net-surfed, Chri...